1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to vent and grill structures and more particularly to a vent with parallel vertically arranged elements formed so as to force air to flow in a “Z” pattern.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Myint, U.S. 2003/00500006, discloses an air vent to safeguard the security of the public potable water system, especially in such enclosed structures as reservoirs and clear wells and other vital air vented installations against sabotages, vandalism and accidental contamination by animals and birds. Conventional air vents allow the free movement of air in and out of an enclosed structures, but will not stop the penetration of other liquids or solids from getting through vent openings. The described vent does not allow any liquids or solids to move through the vent, even when they are applied under pressure, yet it functions as a normal air vent allowing free movements of air in and out at all times. Bishop, Des. Pat. No. 194410, describes a louver for air conditioning systems or the like. Hayes, U.S. Pat. No. 313,865, discloses a panel of sheet metal formed as a continuous sheet bent outwardly and inwardly at intervals to constitute a series of double-chambered louvers, one chamber open to the interior of the structure and the other chamber open to the exterior with the partition between the chambers provided with apertures for air-passage. Ward, U.S. Pat. No. 925,144, discloses a ventilator, a frame, a series of flanged walls arranged on opposite sides of the frame and in staggered relation with respect to one another, and a plurality of removable transparent baffle plates positioned within the flanged walls for directing the flow and travel of the admitted air. Fager, U.S. Pat. No. 1,673,906, discloses a ventilator formed of two interfitting parts, the parts formed of sheet metal having potions struck up from the plane of the sheet metal from which they are formed, the portions comprising frames and cross strips extending across the frames, the cross strips having wings inclined to the planes of the cross strips, the cross strips being so located relative to each other that the spaces between the inclined edge portions of the cross strips of one part will be located opposite the center lines of the cross strips of the other parts, one of the frames having inturned edge portions, a screen clamed between the inturned edge portions and extending the length of the frame and substantially in contact with the edges of the inclines portions of the strips. Kannel, U.S. Pat. No. 1,995,456, discloses a ventilator unit comprising a frame, opposing sets of shutter members formed of angularly bent material disposed in the frame, the shutter members of one set overlapping the shutter members of the other set so as to present a tortuous passageway having opposing pockets, one set of shutters being hingedly mounted in the frame as a unit and movable to and from cooperative relations with respect to the companion set of shutters. Minds, U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,622, discloses an improved wall structure comprising: a pair of spaced apart panel retaining members; each of the panel retaining members comprising an I-beam with the upper flange of one of the I-beams being in opposing relationship to the lower flange of the other I-beams; at least one panel coupled to and between the I-beams, each of the I-beams including on at least one side thereof at least two projecting portions, the projecting portions being disposed in the upper flange of the one-I-beams and in the lower flange of the other of the I-beams, the projecting portions defining with the retaining members spaced apart notches, and the panel including angled edge portions interlocked, respectively with the opposing notches of the projecting portions of the space apart I-beams in the flanges aforementioned. Dininno, U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,136, discloses a louver assembly for a building wall or the like, that includes inner blades which are spaced apart to provide longitudinal openings for ventilating the building, and outer blades which confront the longitudinal openings. A strip of wire mesh confronts each longitudinal opening and prevents ingress of extraneous material, such as debris and birds for example. Bracket means connects each outer blade directly to adjacent ones of the inner blades. The bracket means fixes the spacing between adjacent inner blades and the spacing between the inner blades and the outer blades. Sommer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,477, discloses a protective screen or grating, especially a protective screen or grating for drift or blown sand or the like, for an electrical air-cooled machine, comprising essentially vertically arranged profile ledge members disposed in at least two rows, the profile ledge members being provided with at least one row of guide devices located downstream with respect to the flow direction of the cooling air and forming channel walls. Olsen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,224, discloses a louver that has vertical blades arranged in a frame alternately in a staggered relation from front to back in a front and a rear row. The blades in at least the front row have a web oriented substantially perpendicularly to the plane of the frame and substantially parallel to the jambs, a pair of front flanges extending in opposite directions generally laterally from a front edge of the web, and a pair of rear flanges extending in opposite directions generally laterally from a rear edge of the web. The webs subdivide the air flow volume within the frame into flow channels, each of which is partially blocked laterally by the front flanges and the rear flanges of the blades of the front row. The blades of the rear row have flanges that block the portions of is the channels between the extremities of the flanges of the blades of the front row. The flanges of the adjacent blades overlap so that there is no straight path through the flow channels along which air and water entrained in the air can pass perpendicularly to the plane of the frame and the air flows along a tortuous flow path of approximately constant area. The flanges are configured to control and trap water impinging on them. Akerson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,424, discloses a vent apparatus for a building that includes a frame within which are positioned two spaced sets of louvers. The louvers of each set of louvers have openings therebetween and the openings of each set of louvers are covered by the louvers of the other set of louvers.
The related art described above discloses several air vent structures including Sommer which teaches that a screen may include plural inlet paths which are covered by caps so that air inflow gains entrance to the inlet paths only from a lateral direction. Akerson et al teaches an interleaved arrangement of baffles that prevents a straight line entry path. Olsen teaches a matrix of “I” shaped elements that also prevents a direct path and forces air to move laterally as well as through the labyrinth. Dininno, Kannel, Fager, Ward, Hayes, Myint and Minds each teaches a baffle arrangement that forces an air stream to essentially reverse direction twice during transit. However, the prior art fails to disclose a vent baffle arrangement that forcing a torturous air flow path that retroflow so that glowing embers are prevented from entering a building structure due to the fact that they are caused to essentially reverse direction and with forward flow reversed they drop to the bottom of the vent structure. The present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following summary.